“I see someone finally bought the house next to yours,” I heard Harry’s deep voice say.

“Oh yes, I have a fruitcake that I’m going to bring over right now,” she said cheerfully. I looked worriedly around the furnished house.

A deep blue sofa sat in one corner. The kitchen was clean and homely looking. The walls were a pale white and she had yet to see her room and the upstairs. It looked alright; I took a deep breath and practiced my lines over and over again in my head.

“We’ll come over with you,” Ginny said.

“Oh no it is quite alright, Dudley has something that he wants to show all of you,” Mrs. Dursley said and I silently thanked the heavens.

Soon there was a ringing at the front door. Hurriedly I made sure my clothes were fine before opening up the door with a smile.

“Hello, I’m Mrs. Dursley your neighbor,” Mrs. Dursley said.

“Hi, I’m Riley Jones,” I said grinning at the woman. “Please come in,” my tone was pleasant and Mrs. Dursley stepped into the room and looked around approvingly. “Sorry, I’m not quite done unpacking,” I said smiling apologetically.

“No problem dear, I made this for you,” she said handing over the fruitcake.

“Thank you so much,” I said exclaiming over the fruitcake. “Just let me put this away so it won’t go bad,” I said making my way to the kitchen and shutting the fridge door.

The door bell rang again and smiled at Mrs. Dursley. “Go ahead and get it dear,” she said kindly. She probably wanted to see who it was; Harry had said she liked sticking her nose into other people’s business.

I opened the door to see the blonde devil standing at my front step. Oh, I felt like clubbing him over the head!! The annoying, insufferable ferret! Why could he not just leave me in peace?

“Hello,” I said smiling pleasantly and he looked at me shocked.

“Hello,” he said back to me raising an eyebrow in question.

“If you don’t mind coming back later, I have company at the moment,” I said glaring at him.

“Oh don’t worry dear, I’m leaving. You two have fun and tell me what you think of the fruitcake,” Mrs. Dursley said leaving. I stared after her wishing that she would stay. She was after all my alibi for Malfoy to just leave.

“Hello Riley Jones,” Draco said smirking at me. I scowled at him and avoided eye contact.

“Why can’t you leave me alone?” I asked sighing and letting him into the house. “Tell Harry and Ron I’m dead or something, and then they’ll leave you alone. Just leave me alone,” I slid down into a chair and stared at the floor.

“Hermione,” he said softly and I stiffened. I blinked back unwanted memories and stared at him coldly.

“When will you get it through your head that I don’t want to come back? I’m happy living a normal life,” I hissed at him.

“This is the life you want?” He asked coldly gesturing to the barren walls and dark house. “A non magic life is not normal for a witch Granger. We both know that you aren’t happy living like this.”

“Who are you to say whether I’m happy or not? You don’t even know me,” I said through clenched teeth and standing up to turn away from him.

“That isn’t true, we both know that I know you better then you know yourself,” he said grabbing my arm and spinning me around to face him.

“I thought you knew me, but obviously I was wrong. I also thought people changed, but it looked like I was wrong there too,” I said pulling my arm away from his grip.

“You have to come back,” he said sternly. “You don’t belong here; you belong in the magical world.”

“What do you think would change if I come back? Let me tell you, nothing would. You guys are doing fine against Voldemort with out me, Harry looks happy too,” I said gesturing to the house next door. Big mistake.

“Potter is here, visiting his aunt?” He asked and I didn’t like the glint in his eye.

“Don’t even think about it Malfoy, if you tell Harry that I’m here, I’m as good as gone,” I hissed.

“You aren’t as good as gone already? I found you didn’t I? You are going to start running again. Frankly I’m surprised. I thought Gryffindors were brave,” Draco said smirking.

“You always said I wasn’t a true Gryffindor,” I retorted and he went stony faced.

“I’ve had enough of this game Hermione,” he said gritting his teeth.

“You think this is a game? I’m not fooling with you Malfoy. I’m serious when I say I want you to stop following me, stop finding me and stop trying to try and get me to come back to the magical world,” I stared at him angrily.

“What if I told you that I won’t stop?” He asked drawing closer.

“Then I won’t stop running,” I said stepping back.

“Then just answer me a few questions before you go off running again,” he said and I looked at him warily.

“Depends on what they are,” I whispered looking out the window.

“Why no magic? I mean you could look like a muggle and still use magic,” Draco said slowly.

“It brought back memories and if I used magic, you could track me easily,” I said turning to look at him.

“Why all the different names?” He asked staring at me avidly.

“They are easy to track, if you just have one person you’re looking for it isn’t that hard to look for someone with that name just popping up out of no where.” His questions were easy and I knew he was just waiting to ask the one question he wanted to the most. The one that I wasn’t ready to give an answer to.

“How did you pick the places?” He asked and I rolled my eyes.

“Just places I had always wanted to go and wherever sounded interesting,” I looked back out the window.

“Why did you run,” he whispered taking a step closer. “Hermione, why did you run?”

Tears welled up in my eyes and I kept my gaze on the activity outside the window. I wasn’t ready to answer that question. Not now, and I didn’t feel like I would ever be ready.

I stood there in silence and he waited for the answer he must’ve known would never come. Finally I broke the silence.

“I’m not going to answer that,” I whispered turning to leave the window.

“Don’t you think I deserve an answer?” He asked holding on tightly to my elbow.

“No,” I said coldly looking up and meeting his eyes.

“Fine,” he said angrily and picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder.

“Hey, put me down!” I shouted hitting his back hard.

“No,” he said coldly and walked out the door.

I knew where he was going. He walked over to number four Privet Drive and rang the doorbell. Footsteps could be heard and I hit my fists harder against his back.

“Draco what the hell is this?” Harry asked. Draco stepped inside and placed me down on the floor.

“Hermione?” Harry asked hoarsely looking at me shocked.

“Hi Harry,” I said weakly.

a/n Ok, I hope you liked it! Tell me what you thought!!! Hmm, I wonder what is going to happen next…